1985 Formula One World Championship
[1] Reigning champion Niki Lauda retired after this season, although team boss Ron Dennis tried to convince him otherwise.
Michele Alboreto took pole in his Ferrari ahead of Keke Rosberg in a Williams-Honda and the two Lotuses of Ayrton Senna and Elio de Angelis.
Rosberg retired with turbo failure, and McLaren-TAG/Porsche driver Alain Prost took 2nd after taking advantage of an accident involving Briton Nigel Mansell at the start.
The 4½-month-long European tour started with the news that Ferrari driver René Arnoux had been sacked and replaced by Swede Stefan Johansson.
Conditions were extremely difficult, and Ayrton Senna drove a race often regarded as one of Formula One's great wet-weather drives.
Prost was later disqualified for his car being underweight, and victory was handed to Elio de Angelis driving a Lotus-Renault.
The Monaco Grand Prix was originally supposed to be cancelled due to political wrangling, but it took place as scheduled.
Alboreto then slid on some oil at the first corner which had been dropped from the gearbox of Riccardo Patrese's Alfa Romeo after a collision with Nelson Piquet's Brabham-BMW.
The Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal produced a Ferrari 1–2, with Alboreto winning ahead of Johansson, and Prost finishing third.
The Detroit Grand Prix, classic for being a race of attrition was no different as Keke Rosberg passed Prost, Mansell and Senna to take the lead – a lead he kept from start to finish on a circuit that, under the intense heat and humidity, broke up and made half the field retire.
F1 returned to Europe to start the second European tour with the French Grand Prix at the very fast Circuit Paul Ricard with its long 1.1 mile Mistral straight.
Senna went into the pits and fell down the order; while driving hard to make up places he crashed heavily at the very fast Signes corner after the Mistral Straight when the Renault engine in his Lotus failed and dropped oil on the rear tires, and the car caught fire.
Rosberg had wrecked his tires early on, and was harried by Prost and his teammate, defending champion Niki Lauda.
In an effort to stay in front of Prost, Senna turned the Renault's engine's turbo boost up, and this caused him to run out of fuel and retire from the race.
The extremely fast Österreichring was the venue for the Austrian Grand Prix, which was dominated by McLaren drivers Prost and Lauda.
The McLaren car was superior to all the others on this track, and after Lauda fell out with turbo failure, Prost took victory ahead of Senna and Alboreto.
Ligier-Renault driver Andrea de Cesaris crashed heavily after making a mistake and losing his car at the Texaco bends, but emerged unscathed, thanks to the grassy surface made soft by rain the night before.
The Italian Grand Prix at the very fast Autodromo Nazionale di Monza saw Williams-Honda driver Rosberg dominate the race, but he retired with engine failure, and Prost took victory, ahead of Brazilians Piquet and pole-sitter Senna.
The rescheduled Belgian Grand Prix returned to the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, a track relished by drivers, even in the wet.
Niki Lauda crashed his McLaren in practice, and injured his wrist; he would not take part in this weekend or the upcoming European GP.
This would end up filling a gap in the calendar left by the cancellation for the third year in a row of the New York Grand Prix.
The European Grand Prix was originally scheduled on the 1985 calendar to be held on a street circuit in Rome but due to unknown reasons it was moved to the southern English Brands Hatch circuit, normally used for the British Grand Prix on even numbered years.
Mansell led the rest of the race distance, while Marc Surer in a Brabham-BMW got up to 2nd, but retired at Stirling's corner after a fire broke out on the back of his car.
Rosberg took the lead, but then went off on some oil at Crowthorne which had been dropped by Piercarlo Ghinzani's Toleman, whose Hart engine had failed.
Senna, retired with a misfiring engine, leaving Rosberg to win ahead of the two Ligier drivers Jacques Laffite and Phillippe Streiff, whom both crashed into each other on the main straight on the last lap.
